Sex is a beautiful act. Some say it’s the most raw and sacred thing that a person can consent to. It’s an emotional dance, consecrated by music.

We have sex – and the fascinating temple of the uterus – to thank for our existence. It must be cherished, and not abused. 

But a harmful rhetoric is fed through music in the 21^st century. One where women and girls are being exploited and objectified.

This is not to say that the same does not happen to men – but the vast majority of the damage is steeped in misogyny and unsolicited agency over women’s bodies. 

Music is one of the most successful communicators of the human condition. Lyrics and instrumentals hold the power to connect us through joint experiences and emotions.

Songs about sex are no different. However, with the rise of sexual expression, lines have blurred between sexual imitation and female objectification.

Many artists have become accustomed to using derogatory phrases.

“Pussy,” “bitch,” and “whore” are used time and time again, demonising women and reducing them their body parts.

It’s the unfiltered, desensitised language which trickles down to listeners and negatively impacts their views on what sex is, and how you should act. 

Most Gen Z music appreciators know who The Weekend is. Objectively, he has some catchy songs. Yet there is no denying that a large sum of his music centralises around women’s bodies and the act of seducing them.

Songs like “Or Nah” and “One of your Girls” degrade women, treating them as submissive beings that like to be punished. They use insensitive language to suggests how disposable women are.

The same goes for artists like Drake, Kanye and Chris Brown. Even female artists, like Niki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, are guilty.

This is the ‘Male Gaze.’

Feminist theorist Laura Mulvey’s investigates the voyeuristic lenses of male audiences. Women are seen as sex symbols and accessories, their bodies objects for men to desire.

Instead of sex songs about equalised pleasure, what dominates is a concerning lust for control and manipulation over the female body and mind. We, as listeners, are positioned as the entitled and, frankly, patriarchal audience.

What is also concerning is the number of women who are desensitised to this detrimental language.

Whether it’s a complete disregard of the fact, or a subconscious ideology that women should be reflected in this way, many sing along, completely ear blind to the misogynistic prevalence. 

It may sound like an impossible task for artists to remain respectful when sex can, at its core, be so ferocious and intense. But there are plenty of examples where this has been upheld, and the songs are still, politely put, as freaky as ever.

It’s testament to the fact that explicitness does not equate to, or justify, the objectification of any person’s body. 

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